The Lead

Since 1775, the United States Marines Corps has been the foremost authority on amphibious warfare, and they’ve perfected the art of establishing beachheads on hostile shores. An amphibious drone from Guardbot Inc. could aid these complex military maneuvers....

FREE Email Newsletter

A seemingly endless string of hardware and software errors have plagued the F-35, and ... here’s another one. A brand new software glitch is causing the JSF’s sensors to malfunction when detecting targets whilst in formation....

We’ve heard the claim that gas-guzzlers contribute to global warming, but hybrid and pure electric vehicles could reduce an entirely different sort of heat. According to researchers, electric vehicles (EVs) emit only 19.8% of the heat spewed by conventional vehicles....

They’re the rock stars of the military, the glamorous face of the Navy’s recruitment efforts, and arguably the most celebrated flight demonstration team in the world. They’re the Blue Angels — more elite than the Navy SEALs, more precise than a brain surgeon, and as close-knit as any Special Forces unit....

We’ve all heard of regenerative-braking, where kinetic energy from brakes is captured and returned to the vehicle’s batteries. Most of the popular hybrid and pure electric vehicles like the Prius, Tesla Roadster, and Chevy Volt use some form of regenerative breaking....

Earlier this week, I took a ride down to the nation’s capital for the Satellite 2015 expo and was fortunate enough to attend the panel “The Future of Government and Military Space: Safe Bets and Bold Predictions.” Moderated by Vice Admiral Lyle Bien (Ret.) and sporting an esteemed panel ...

GATR Technologies’ portable satellite antennas aren’t hot off the presses, but seeing them in person at the Satellite 2015 Expo in Washington DC was mesmerizing. The inflatable communications hubs are amongst ...

As we’ve all adjusted to the new paradigm of “asymmetrical” warfare, militaries have embraced drones as the premier tool against worldwide insurgencies. And with its “Buraq” indigenous armed drone, Pakistan is the latest member of the UAV club....

Officials with the Joint Strike Fighter program recently announced that the F-35 won’t be able to utilize the military’s top close-air support bomb, the Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II), until 2022, five years after the SDB II enters service in 2017....

When the FAA ruled that drones had to be kept in line sight of the pilots, it put a definite damper on the UAV jubilee, but it wasn’t long before people started coming up with creative ideas to get around the draconian law. These ideas included things like a potential loophoop in onboard real time cameras ...

We’ve come a long way in our treatment (and understanding) of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During WWI, a soldier exhibiting signs of PTSD — be it mental or physical trauma — was “shell-shocked.” If he was lucky, he was pulled off ...

The achievement will be as much human ingenuity as a technical wonder, but the Swiss-made solar-powered aircraft that took off early Monday morning will make history. Harnessing the power of the sun ...

To date, we’ve seen 3D-printed drones, 3D-printed model airplanes, and while major airlines like Airbus are exploring the idea of futuristic, 3D-printed passenger jets, we haven’t seen rapid prototyping applied on so large a scale — until now.

Forget military UAVs. For my money, there’s nothing cooler than sweet DIY projects like a chocolate drone or a custom-built quadcopter that looks like a TIE Interceptor from Star Wars. The intrepid creator — who goes by the social media handle “Olivier C” ...

From the same country that brought us the smallest “stealth fighter” of all time, a “time machine”, and a “drone” held together with duct tape comes an (overly) ambitious plan to send humans into space by 2016. Iran loves to tout its “indigenous” quasi-realistic military technology....

The hits just keep on coming for the Joint Strike Fighter, the problematic 5th-gen personification of “requirements creep.” The latest blow — the most flawed version of a thoroughly flawed program can’t fit all its weapons because of a design flaw....

You’ve probably heard that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will cost a few shekels. But we don’t usually talk about the other money pit sucking up taxpayer dollars — the F-35’s helmet-mounted display system (HMDS), pegged at an absurd $770,000 apiece....

The BRAINFLIGHT project has an ambitious goal – complete control over aircraft (or a significantly reduced workload) using nothing but your mind. The team from Tekever and a collection of European researchers recently demonstrated their brain-computer interface (BCI) ...

Most wearable exoskeletons are heavy duty contraptions with ravenous power requirements. Lockheed Martin’s Human Universal Load Carrier, or HULC, was a battery, hydraulic-powered load carriage platform designed to carry up to 200 pounds....

Ever since Cody Wilson started toying with the idea of perfecting a completely 3D-printed gun, he’s given potential business partners – including 3D-printer manufacturers – the heebie jeebies. Some have outright refused to have their name associated with 3D-printed firearms....

So if the FAA regulates your business from existence, the answer is to make it even less efficient? Huh? In case you haven’t heard the news (or saw the firestorm on this site), the FAA belatedly released its suggested rules for domestic drones....

Welcome to this week's edition of STEM Student of the Week. This week, Digital Editor Jason Lomberg shines the light on Stanford's UAV Club and an enthusiastic new member, Natalie Muenster. Her goal is to help create a perpetual-flight UAV as a proof-of-concept....

Domestic drones represent a potential goldmine – quite possibly the greatest business opportunity since the automobile – and a plethora of different companies have proposed various commercial applications. But one of the biggest roadblocks to any sort of mass deployment ...

The Cold War may be over, but don’t tell Russia. They’ve just taken the lead in a brand new hypersonic arms race with a fuel that allows cruise missiles to fly 5x the speed of sound. The fuel would allow specially designed cruise missiles ...

Domestic drones represent a potential goldmine. But the FAA's proposed rules for domestic drone operation could thwart a promising business opportunity in its infancy. The FAA's regulations would flat out kill Amazon Prime Air....

Hate drones so much that you’d rather shoot them down than tolerate their presence on your property? NoFlyZone.org has a safer solution than spraying buckshot into the air.
No Fly Zone, a consortium of seven drone manufacturers, allows ...